


ten fingers

by parrishsrubberplant (genus_species)



Category: Fence (Comics)
Genre: M/M, Never Have I Ever, Pining, Team Bonding, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-27 01:25:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15675234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genus_species/pseuds/parrishsrubberplant
Summary: Nicholas takes out a handle of vodka. Eugene suggests a game of 'Never Have I Ever.'The boys of the King's Row Fencing Team learn (about each other) by drinking!





	ten fingers

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [notenoughgatorade](http://notenoughgatorade.tumblr.com/)for beta!
> 
> All feedback loved! If you like, [reblog](http://parrishsrubberplant.tumblr.com/post/176963277962/ten-fingers-parrishsrubberplant-genusspecies)!

The handle of vodka is a bad idea.

Nicholas brought it. Underneath the bravado and the burgeoning Seiji Katayama obsession, Harvard thinks he’s actually not a bad dude. He’s fast, he’s got good instincts, and he works hard. If he’s obsessed with Seiji, so what? Isn’t everyone, a little? 

And he has a fake ID, which could come in handy. 

Maybe a little bit of stereotypical high school bad behavior will help take Harvard’s mind off...things. He’s endured years of rooming with Aiden already--how bad can a few more months possibly be? He doesn’t want to know the answer to that question.

Seiji himself is here. He doesn’t seem the sort who would go in for team bonding or want to spend more time near Aiden than absolutely necessary (Harvard is going to figure out what Aiden said to him, to rattle him so badly. Did he try to flirt?) but he’s here, sitting straight with his back against the wall. Since telling coach that he didn’t want to room with Nicholas (Harvard’s still proud of that one, it was fucking _funny_ to watch those two run their suicides) he has mostly been ignoring him.

Which is _also_ funny, because Nicholas seems constitutionally incapable of ignoring Seiji. There’s being obsessed with someone because of their fencing, and then there’s just plain _being obsessed with someone_ , and Nicholas is well on his way into the latter.

Nicholas takes a sleeve of plastic cups out of his backpack.

“Oh, good,” Aiden says. “I thought we’d have to drink from the bottle.” How does he manage to make _everything_ sound slightly dirty? Harvard wonders in despair. Not that he’s thinking about putting his mouth in the same place as Aiden’s mouth. What’s the phrase Bobby uses for that kind of thing? An indirect kiss? 

“No.” Nicholas pushes his thumb through the plastic and tears open the bag. He sets cups on the floor. “Who wants some?”

“Me,” Aiden says. “Obviously.”

“Yeah,” Nicholas says. He makes it sound slightly sarcastic rather than obscene. Like, of course you would want some.

Harvard raises his hand slightly. It’s a terrible idea, but if it helps them bond as a team it’ll be worth it? He hasn’t had any rebellious high school experiences and it’s high time he started? He wants to be bad for once? He’s still thinking about Aiden’s mouth. Goddammit.

“Just a little,” Bobby says. He’s sitting with his legs folded off to the side in half a z-shape, pleated skirt over his knees. Today’s leggings are argyle-patterned. 

“Why not,” Eugene says. “Jay?”

Jay looks up. He’s still skittish around Aiden, like all Aiden’s former hookups tend to be. Something about being so completely and comprehensively ignored crushes their souls. Aiden doesn’t do it with anybody twice. Not that Harvard is paying attention. 

Jay is still rebounding. He can look Aiden in the eyes now without blushing. That’s progress. “Sure,” he says. 

Harvard’s proud that Jay’s here at all. If he had hooked up with Aiden and then been brutally ignored, he probably would have hopped in an Uber and crashed Exton’s fencing team tryouts. He’d be in the next county, maybe even the next state. Good for Jay, being able to sit in the same room with Aiden even though he knows what he tastes like. _Stop_ , Harvard thinks, getting control of his runaway thoughts. _Stop. You haven’t even started drinking yet._

Nicholas tilts the bottle. “Seji?”

“He won’t,” Aiden says. He smiles meanly.

“Let him speak for himself,” Nicholas says. “Seiji?”

“Okay,” Seiji says. He doesn’t move a muscle, doesn’t lean forward from the wall, but Harvard still has the sense that he’s bracing himself, readying for...something. He’s surprised: he didn’t expected Seiji would drink with them. Maybe he wants to rebel a little too.

Nicholas sets out seven cups and meticulously pours half an inch of vodka into the bottom of each of them.

“Did you do this often, in public school?” Aiden asks, accepting his glass.

“No,” Nicholas says. “Not like this.” He hands Harvard and Jay their glasses. Bobby picks his up, sniffs it, and makes a face. “We drank cheap beer, mostly. Whatever somebody’s cousin or older brother could be persuaded to buy.”

“Ah, you got the good stuff for us,” Aiden says.

“It’s in a plastic bottle, dumbass,” Jay says.

Seiji leans over and flicks the bottle with a fingernail. It clinks. “No, glass.” He accepts his cup from Nicholas gravely, like it’s fine wine. How he manages to look dignified while sitting on a dorm room floor, Harvard would like to know. “Probably not the good stuff, though. No offence.”

Nicholas shrugs. “None taken. It’s okay, I guess.” He holds up the glass. “To tryouts,” he says. “To the team.”

“Kings Row!” they echo back. And then everyone drinks. Harvard can tell who has had vodka before by the way people take their shots. Nicholas and Aiden down them without trouble. Eugene and Bobby cough. Jay makes a terrible face. Seiji’s cup is empty, and his face is blank. He might as well have just swallowed a glass of water. So Seiji does have a rebellious side. Or maybe he just has parents who serve their kids a little bit of alcohol on holidays. Harvard’s parents do that.

“Let’s play a game,” Harvard says, before Aiden can needle anyone. He has that look in his eyes, the one he gets when he’s getting ready to make trouble. 

“Team bonding, hmm,” Eugene says. “Never have I ever?”

“I don’t know that one,” Jay says.

“You start out with ten fingers, and then if somebody says something you’ve done, you put a finger down,” Eugene explains. “And you drink, too.”

“Oh,” Jay says. “That.”

“Well, move in,” Eugene says. This is directed to Seiji, who is still on the outside of the circle. “It’s funnier if we can all see each other.”

“It’s funnier if we’re all drunk,” someone mutters. Probably Jay. Harvard would try to have some sympathy, but Jay’s the one who keeps pathetically pining. Really, hasn’t he learned by now? Aiden doesn’t have a romantic bone in his body. He wouldn’t know how to date if he were one of the last two men on Earth and the other one were Zachary Quinto.

“Okay,” Seiji says, and moves. His back is as straight as it was when he sat against the wall. “Who’s starting?” He holds his hands out in front of him, ten fingers stretched out.

Harvard does the same and the other fencers copy him. Nicholas leans forward and pours more shots.

“I’ll start,” Aiden says. Please, Harvard thinks, please don’t say anything that’s going to make everyone uncomfortable.

“Never have I ever hooked up with another fencer,” Aiden says, and so much for that wish. Harvard glances around, covertly. It’s unsurprising that Jay puts his finger down, scowling at that. What’s weird is that Bobby, Nicholas, and Eugene are now also only holding out nine fingers. Nicholas grimly shoots his vodka, but everyone else takes little sips.

Seiji’s next. “Never have I ever lost a match fifteen-zero,” he says.

“Fuck you,” Nicholas says without rancor, and puts a finger down. He refills his cup, tilts it to his lips, and swallows. Aiden, Eugene, Jay, and Bobby also drink. Seiji half-smiles. Nicholas opens the vodka bottle. “More?”

Everyone accepts another round except Seiji and--surprisingly--Aiden.

Bobby’s next. “Never have I ever asked Seiji for fencing advice.”

“You’re not supposed to try to get yourself out!” Nicholas says crossly. He, Bobby, Harvard, and Eugene all fold fingers down and drink. Bobby smiles sweetly at him and toasts him with his glass.

“Never have I ever been walked in on,” Nicholas says.

“Walked in on doing what?” Aiden says. He makes it sound lascivious, like everything else he says. Harvard’s sure there are students at this school who have had wet dreams about Aiden asking them to pass the salt.

“What do you think?” Nicholas says. He makes a rude gesture. Aiden grins.

“Hm. Does jerking off count?” Eugene asks.

“I say it does,” says Bobby. He throws his shot back and folds a finger down, glaring at the rest of them and daring them to comment. Aiden snorts. The corner of Jay’s mouth curls up. Seiji continues to look blank--but Harvard notices that everyone in the room except Nicholas puts a finger down and drinks.

“Hey,” Aiden says, gesturing to Nicholas.

Nicholas smirks at him. “Maybe I’m a super boring ex-choir boy. Maybe I just know how to lock a door.” This gets a laugh out of everyone, including Aiden. “Who’s next?”

Bobby stands up. “Bathroom,” he says. 

Nicholas tucks the vodka bottle away in his open backpack. It’s plausible deniability at the very least. Not that they won’t all get in massive amounts of trouble if a dorm parent or, god forbid, Coach, discovers them. Harvard realizes that he suddenly doesn’t care. Maybe it’s the vodka. He realizes he’s starting to lean to one side already as his shoulder presses into Aiden’s.

Bobby returns and sits down. Jay leans forward. “Me,” he says. “Never have I ever had to run suicides for saying one of the things on coach’s wall.”

Nicholas looks away, and pointedly extends his middle finger at Jay as he arranges his hand to fold the other four fingers down. He drinks with his free hand.

Seiji snorts, but Harvard notices he’s also down a finger. Harvard smiles serenely. He’s still proud of being responsible for that one. Bobby also puts a finger down. He’s down to one hand now and his cup is nearly empty. “Hey,” Bobby says. “I’m winning! Nice.”

“Oh my god,” Aiden mutters. “I have work to do.”

“Just because you’re used to being the worst ho in the room,” Bobby says indignantly, and Nicholas laughs and pours him more vodka. “I think I love you,” he tells Bobby gravely, and Bobby beams at him. Seiji wordlessly holds out his cup for more vodka. Nicholas pours.

“Eugene?” Harvard says.

“No,” Eugene says to Aiden. “I’m not doing a sex one. Shut up, you’re all nasty.” He hums for a moment, thinking. “Never have I ever gotten detention for being out of uniform.”

“Hate you,” Nicholas sings. He, Aiden, and Bobby fold fingers down. Nicholas tosses back the contents of his cup and pours himself another drink. Jay considers for a moment, half-lowers his middle finger, and then extends it again. He raises his cup to his lips and sets it down without drinking.

Harvard thinks. The weird thing about this game right now is that he actually doesn’t know most of these people well enough to target them, except for Aiden and maybe Eugene. He really wants to get Seiji, but the man’s an iceberg wrapped in an enigma--does he have any vices at all? If he said, “Never have I ever been nationally ranked,” he would get himself and Seiji, but he doesn’t really want to drink more right now. “Never have I ever spaced out in class and then gotten called on,” he says.

“Lame,” says Aiden. This gets Aiden, Eugene, and Bobby. Harvard reaches out to high-five Nicholas.

“My turn,” Aiden says. “Never have I ever had sex.”

“Define sex,” Bobby says.

“Two or more people, one or more orgasms,” Aiden says.

“Hmm,” Bobby says. “That’s actually a good definition.”

Aiden grins. “Covers a lot, doesn’t it?” Why does he do that, the whole voice-dripping-with-sex thing? It’s _distracting._ Harvard shifts uncomfortably.

“Oh my god,” Nicholas mutters. “Can you save it for later? Or, like, never?”

Aiden smiles slowly at him. Nicholas shakes his head, completely immune, and tops up everyone’s drinks. Everyone except Seiji and Bobby solemnly fold down fingers and drink. Bobby sees everyone looking and looks out his hand to Seiji for a high five. Seiji looks for a moment like he wants to refuse, but then he reaches out and smacks his palm into Bobby’s.

“Jesus,” Aiden says. “We need to get you laid.”

“Thanks,” Seiji says. “But no thanks.”

“Maybe I was talking to Bobby,” Aiden says.

“Thanks,” Bobby says drily. “But no thanks.” He manages to copy Seiji’s tone exactly. Everyone laughs.

When it’s his turn Seiji goes for the obvious: “Never have I ever been nationally ranked,” which gets both him and Harvard and no one else. Harvard wonders if he sabotaged himself deliberately. He must notice he’s got more fingers still up than anyone else in the room.

“Never have I ever shopped in the women’s section of a store,” Bobby says. Every single person puts a finger down.

“What?” Bobby says. 

Seiji throws back his shot. “It can be hard to find trousers,” he says seriously. “Women’s trousers are more generously cut.”

“Oh, I was just lingerie shopping,” Aiden says.

Nicholas puts his face in his hands.

“Oh my god,” Eugene says. “I did not need to know that about you. I already know too much about you.”

“Who says it was for me?” Aiden says, but he smirks and drinks, then passes his cup to Nicholas for a refill. The vodka bottle is looking depleted. Bobby’s face and Eugene’s are flushed. There’s pink color burning high on Aiden’s cheekbones.

“Never have I ever slept naked,” Nicholas says. Aiden and Jay make faces and drink. So does Harvard. 

Nicholas raises an eyebrow at him.

“What?” Harvard says. “You try 90% humidity with no AC and see how much clothes you want to wear to bed.” Aiden stretches his legs out in front of him and knocks his foot into Harvard’s. Harvard knocks back.

The game gets progressively sillier from there. Everyone’s starting to feel the alcohol, Harvard thinks. Never have I ever...played Pokemon Go, gone skinny dipping (Aiden puts his tenth finger down and takes his shot triumphantly), baked a cake (Nicholas and Jay get out, and exchange high fives), had a cat (Eugene and Bobby put their last fingers down).

It’s Seiji and Harvard left, and Seiji is still holding out six fingers. “Wow,” Harvard says. “We’re super lame.” A terrible thought rises to his brain, floating on the surface of an ocean of bad ideas and vodka: _Never have I ever had a crush on my roommate._ That would definitely get him out, and maybe also Seiji, judging by the way he keeps sneaking looks at Nicholas like he can’t quite believe him.

Fuck it, Harvard thinks. “Never have I ever been team captain.”

One finger left for him, while Seiji still has six. That makes sense. Has he ever been on a team before? Or has he always been so far ahead of everyone else that this is his first time having to think about other people? That would explain...kind of a lot.

“Never have I ever had a secret chocolate stash,” Seiji says, which gets Harvard out and gets Seiji down to one hand. 

Seiji picks up the vodka bottle and pours himself a half inch. He refills Harvard’s cup, too, and tips the neck of the bottle towards the group. “Anyone else?”

“No thanks,” Bobby says.

“Please,” Jay says. 

“Sure.” Aiden slides his glass across the floor.

Nicholas holds his out wordlessly, as does Eugene.

Seiji sets the now-empty bottle on the floor.

“That was fun,” Aiden says. “I feel very bonded now.” He leans back against the bed, loose-limbed and elegant. How he can sprawl while sitting up has to be one of the mysteries of the universe. His thigh presses warmly into Harvard’s. 

Harvard puts an arm around him. _We cuddle like this all the time,_ he tells himself. _This is nothing._ Aiden leans his head against Harvard’s shoulder. Jay looks at them then looks away fast. _This isn’t what you think it is,_ Harvard thinks. _He’s like this all the time. It doesn’t mean anything._

“I’m drunk,” Bobby says. He doesn’t sound bothered by it.

“Have some water,” Nicholas suggests. He stands and has to reach out a hand to steady himself against the wall. He disappears into the bathroom. He returns with a cup full of water for Bobby and one for himself.

“Did you ever get drunk at your public school?” Eugene asks.

“Yeah,” Nicholas says. “Not much fun to practice the next morning hungover, though.”

“You practiced in the morning? Hardcore,” Aiden says. He doesn’t sound flirty, just curious.

Nicholas shrugs. “I wanted to get here,” he says. 

Harvard leans forward and nudges him. “And now you are,” he says. Nicholas toasts him with his water.

“What’s the difference?” Aiden asks. “I mean, between King’s Row and where you were before.”

Nicholas pulls at his lower lip, thinking. “Better classes,” he says. “A beautiful salle. When I first saw it…” Nicholas trails off. “And, oh my god, the twelve outfits. And you have to wear all of them at different times. Fuck uniforms, oh my god.” He rolls his eyes. “Thank god for Bobby; I think I spent the first week constantly changing into shit.”

“And then you put up labels in the closet,” Seiji says.

Nicholas goes red. “Hey,” he says.

Aiden doesn’t laugh at him. “That’s what I’d do,” he says seriously. “Make a list of which outfit I needed for when.” He moves to stand and Harvard’s arm slides off his shoulders. “Excuse me.”

Harvard can’t help looking, as he moves across the room to the bathroom. Aiden’s ass is big and beautiful and _right there._

“Yeah,” Nicholas says. “But the salle here, seriously. It’s so _beautiful.”_

“Wait until you see Exton’s,” Eugene says. “Sometimes they host the tournament there. S’like, I don’t know. Like a...fencing shrine, or something. Right?”

“Fencing cathedral,” Jay says dreamily. “Can you imagine?”

Nicholas snorts with laughter. “Yes,” he says. “That’s the other thing.” He’s tripping over his words now, drunk and too honest. “I was always getting into fights in my old school, over dumb shit. And no one there understood--except my coach--how important this, how important fencing is to me.”

“Yeah, no one’s going to laugh at you for that here,” Harvard says. “First, Coach wouldn’t let them. And second, that’s not unusual here. We’re all fucking obsessed.”

Nicholas goes on. “Yeah. Here it’s all, rah-rah for the fencing team! Even though we’re not Exton.” He drinks more water, then looks at Seiji. “Dude, I have to ask. Why _didn’t_ you go to Exton? Everything I’ve heard since I got here is about how good Exton is. Coach says we’re going to beat them, but I know--I know it’s like we’re the underdog team in the plucky sports movie, you know? They’ve won every tournament since forever. Why here?”

“I’m curious too,” Jay says.

“Me three,” Aiden says. He sits down again, smelling sharply of the bathroom soap. He’s drunk enough that he starts to tilt, his shoulder and upper arm pressing warmly into Harvard’s. Harvard allows it. 

Seiji shrugs, and for a moment Harvard thinks he isn’t going to answer. Then he says, “The team here is worse. But the coach here is better.” 

“Man,” Aiden says. “Someday we’re going to get you to tell us the real story.”

Seiji half-smiles. “You could try,” he says. He yawns, covering his mouth with his hand. “Excuse me. I think it’s time for me to leave soon.”

Nicholas puts the remaining cups in his backpack. “I’m going to get rid of this,” he says, hefting the empty handle of vodka. He wraps a sweater around it, hiding it in his bag. “Good night.” He zips his backpack and stands.

Seiji visibly hesitates and then gets to his feet. He puts out a hand to steady himself against the wall.

“Everything’s spinning,” Aiden says dreamily.

“Christ,” Nicholas mutters. “Make sure he drinks water,” he tells Harvard. He swings his backpack onto his shoulder. The door closes behind him and Seiji.

“Well,” Jay says, after a moment. “That’s an odd couple.”

“Really?” Aiden says.

Bobby frowns and tugs thoughtfully at the end of one of his pigtails. “Do you think they even know it yet, though?” He looks at them seriously over the rim of his water glass. 

“Know what?” Harvard is confused.

“Come on,” Bobby says, like Harvard is being especially dense. “They like each other.”

“I think Nicholas is just obsessed with Seiji’s fencing,” Eugene says. “Which is understandable.”

Aiden hums. “I’m with Bobby. I think it’s more than that.”

“I’m not quite sure,” Jay says. “Seiji’s kind of hard to read.” They all take a moment of silence for the magnitude of that understatement. “And Nicholas is too, sometimes,” Jay continues. “I really wasn’t sure whether they just hated each other’s guts at first. But now, all that ‘senpai, notice me!’ shit is--no offence, Aiden--kind of gay.”

“None taken,” Aiden says cheerfully. It’s the kind of sarcastic cheer that can probably only be mustered because he knows what Jay looks like when he comes, and Jesus, Harvard does not need to me thinking about that. Not with Aiden still cuddled up warmly against him.

“The question is, should we do anything?” Bobby asks slowly.

“No,” Aiden says, immediately.

“No?” Eugene asks.

“No,” Aiden repeats. “Don’t--don’t.” He’s deadly serious, and Harvard feels all the muscles in Aiden’s back go tense against him. “If they’re going to figure it out, they’ll figure it out,” he says. “And if they aren’t, they won’t. And if we go all romantic comedy bullshit, we’ll just fuck it up for them.”

“Jesus,” Jay says. “Whatever happened to you being a romantic?”

“I’m not a romantic, I’m a slut,” Aiden says. No one argues with that, not even Harvard.

“I kind of just want to lock them in the equipment closet sometimes,” Bobby confesses, which makes everyone laugh.

“Can you imagine?” Eugene says. “What are we doing here?” He imitates Seiji’s straight-backed posture, “I don’t know, but it’s all your fault,” then Nicholas’s habitual slouch. Everyone laughs again.

“Coach wouldn’t mind,” Bobby says. “She looks like she’s thinking about it herself sometimes.”

“Coach would make you run suicides until you died,” Harvard says. “ _Until you died._ She doesn’t fuck with team shit.” Clap someone sympathetically on the shoulder when Aiden is being especially beautiful and flirty with, oh, _everyone else,_ yes. Interfere in their personal lives, no. Harvard appreciates Coach.

“What’s the time?” Aiden asks. His head is resting on Harvard’s shoulder. Harvard smells the shea butter-based hair lotion he always uses. “It feels late.”

“Ten minutes to curfew,” Eugene says. He stands up. “Well, that was fun.” He turns and offers Bobby a hand up.

“I feel very bonded,” Bobby says brightly. He takes Eugene’s hand and pulls himself to his feet.

Jay pulls his knees up to his chest and rests his cheek on them.

“Are you okay?” Bobby asks.

“Just tired,” Jay says. He stands. “Good night Harvard. ‘Night, Aiden.”

“Night,” Aiden says. He stays there, still leaning against Harvard, as the door clicks shut behind the three of them.

“Arm wrestle you to see who has to get up and turn out the light,” Harvard says.

“No,” Aiden says. “Let’s just stay down here forever.” He turns his face into Harvard’s neck.

Harvard shakes his shoulder lightly. “Can’t, we’ll get busted for being up past curfew. Get up.” Goosebumps rise on the back of his neck from the silky brush of Aiden’s too-long hair against his skin.

“Ugh,” Aiden says. He stretches, leaning away from Harvard. He climbs gracelessly to his feet. “Ugh,” he says again.

Harvard gets up, too, and heads to the bathroom to brush his teeth. “Tomorrow is going to be terrible,” he mutters.

Aiden rinses his cup and fills it with water from the tap, then does the same with Harvard’s cup. _This is fine,_ Harvard thinks. _Admit it, you’d rather have this--being friends, being roommates, than nothing. And if you hooked up, you’d have nothing. Because Aiden doesn’t do it with the same person twice._

When he leaves the bathroom, Aiden’s already in bed, lying on his back with his right hand on his belly. A cup of water sits on each of their nightstands. “Hit the light?” Aiden asks sleepily.

“Got it,” Harvard says, and makes his way to his bed in the dark.


End file.
